Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1887-09-10

death was present with them; for there, be
meath their feet, balf hidden by the water,
was the stiffening corpse of the Zulu.
To and fro swung the cart in the rush of
the swollen river, up and down beside them
the carcasses of the horses rose and fell with
the swell of the water, on whose surface the
broken moonbeams played and quivered.
Overhead was the blue, star sown depth
through which they were waiting presently
to pass, and TO the right and left the long,
broken outlines of the banks stretched away
till at last they appeared to grow together in
the gloom
But they needed none of these things; they
remembered nothing except thnt they had
found each others hearts, and were happy
with wild joy it is not often given us to feel.
The past was forgotten, the future was at
hand, and between the one and the other was
spanned A bridge of passion made perfe,t and
sanctified by the approaching end. Bessie
was forgotten, all things were forgotten III
that consuming fire.
Let those who would blame them pause
a while Why not? They had kept the faith.
They bad denied themselves and run straightly
down the path Of duty. But the compacts of
life end with life. No man may bargain for
the beyond. Even the marriage service
shrinls from it. And now that hope had
gone and life was at its EXTREMIST ebb, why
should they not take their happiness before
they passed to the land where, perchance, ali
things will be forgotten? So it seemed to
them, if indeed they were any longer capable
c. reason.
He looked into her eyes and she laid her
head upon his heart in that mute abandon
ment of worship which is sometimes to be
=,
vulgar passion by an indefinable quality of
its own, He looked into her eyes and was
glad to have lived, ay, even to have reached
this hour of death. And She lost in the
depths Of her own nature, sobbed out her
passion laden heart upon his breast, and
called him her own, her own, her very ownl
And so the long hours passed. till at last
new born freshness III the air told them that
they were not far from dawn. The death
they were waiting for had not yet come. 1t
must now be very near at hand.
John, she whispered in his ear, "do you
think that they will shoot us."
Yes he said hoarsely; "they must for
their own safety"
II wish it were over" she said
Suddenly she started back from his arms
with a little cry, causing the cart to rock vio-
lentiy
Il forgot" she said-"you can swim, though
l cannot. Why cannot you swim to the
bank and get off under cover of the darkness.
1t is not more than fifty yards, and the cur
rent is not so very swift!'
The idea of escaping without Jess hadnever
occurred to him, and now that she suggested
= it, it struck him as SO absurd that he actually
broke into ghost of a laugh.
Don't talk nonsense jess" he said.
Eyes, yes, will. Go! You must go! 1t
does not matter about me now. | know you
love me and l can die happy. l will wait for
you. Oh, John! wherever am, if | have any
life and any remembrance, | will wait for
you. Never forget that all your life How
ever far may seem away, if | live at all,
shall be waiting for you And now go; you
shall go, say! No. will not be disobeyed.
If you viii not go l will throw myself into
the water. Oh, the cart is turning over"
"Hold Oh for Gods sake" shouted John.
"The traces have broken"
He was right; the tough leather was at
length worn through by the constant rub
bing against the rock and the strain and
swaying of the cart on the one side and the
dead horses on the other. Round it spun,
broadside on the current, and Immediately
began to heave over till at last the angle was
50 sharp that the dead body of poor Mouti
slld out with splash and vanished into the
darkness. This relieved the cart, and it
righted for moment, but now no longer held
up by the bodies of the horses, or by the sus-
tanning power of the wind, it began to fill
and sink, and at the same time to revolve
round and round John realized that it was
all up, and that to stop in the cart would
only mean certain death, because they would
be held under water by the canvas tent SO
with a devout aspiration for assistance he
seized jess round the waist with one arm and
sprang off into the water. As he did SO the
cart filled and sank.
Gle still for Heavens sake!" he shouted, es
they rose to the surface.
In the dim light of the dawn, which was
now creeping over the earth, be could make
out the line of the left bank of the Vaal, the
same from which they had started into the
river on the previous night. 1t appeared to
be about forty yards away, but the current
was running quite six knots and he realized
that, burdened as he was, it would be quite
impracticable for him to try and reach it.
The only thing to do was to keep afioat.
Luckily the water was warm and he was
strong swimmer. In minute or so he made
out that about fifty PAGES ahead some rocks
jutted out twenty yards into the bed of the
stream. Then, catching jess by the hair
with his left hand, he made his effort, and a
desperate one it was. The broken water
boiled furiously round the rocks Presently
he was in it, and. better still, his feet touched
the ground. Next second he was swept off
them and rolled over and over at the bottom
of the river, getting sadly knocked about
against the bowders Somehow he struggled
to his legs, still retaining his hold of jess.
Twice he fell, and twice he struggled up
again. One more etfort-so. The water was
only up to his thighs now, and he was obliged
to half carry his companion As he lifted
her he felt a deadly sickness come over him.
but still he struggled on like man, till at
last they both fell of heap upon a big fiat
rock, and for while he remembered no
more.
Wnen he came to himself again it was to
find jess, who had recovered sooner than he
had, standing over him and chatting his hands
Indeed, as the sun was up, he guessed that he
must have lost his senses for some time. He
rose with some difficulty and shook himself
Except for some bruises he was sound enough